A work machine, such as an excavator, may include a bucket for moving or excavating dirt or other types of material. A number of implement tips or teeth are attached to an edge of the bucket in order to facilitate the excavating process. The implement tips also protect the edge of the bucket from wear and tear encountered during the excavation process. Protection of the edge extends the life of the bucket and reduces maintenance cost of the work machine. However, implement tips have to be periodically replaced due to wear and tear to which they are subjected during the excavation process.
Heretofore, implement tips have been secured to a bucket by first attaching an adapter to the edge thereof and then securing the implement tip to the adapter via a pin assembly. Typically, these pin assemblies include a number of parts which contact and exert a force on both the adapter and the implement tip in order to effect the securement therebetween.
One disadvantage of having a pin assembly in contact with both the implement tip and the adapter to effect securement therebetween is that the pin assembly may become loose as the implement tip is subjected to substantial forces during a work operation. In particular, forces that are applied to the implement tip during a work operation would then be transmitted to the pin assembly. Thereafter, forces which are applied to the pin assembly would be transmitted to the adapter. Consequently, the pin assembly would be subjected to a continuous compressing force during the work operation which may cause the pin assembly to become loose within the tip assembly over a period of time.
The presence of a loose pin assembly in the tip assembly may cause inadvertent separation of the implement tip from the adapter. In addition, having the pin assembly in contact with the implement tip causes the pin assembly to wear away at a relatively fast rate. This increases the maintenance cost of operating the work machine. Furthermore, these types of pin assemblies typically include a relatively large number of parts which makes them relatively expensive, mechanically complex, and difficult to install.
What is needed therefore is a tip assembly for an edge of an implement of a work machine which overcomes one or more of the above-mentioned drawbacks.